Wednesday, December 14, 2005

A day in my life

I don't usually write about my day-to-day life on here, however, I've had the most interesting day that I just have to share with you.

It started out normal enough; I woke up.

At 11:30 I was supposed to meet someone for lunch but I was running a little late. I couldn't find a parking space and so I had to park up Main St. a ways and park in the 2-hour lot behind the bank, across from the Christian book store (the one where I am "on call" for when they need extra help).

Had a great lunch at a deli shop and headed back to my car when I realized I didn't have my keys. "Where did they go, Juli?" I ask myself.

"Man, I'm such an idiot!" I say as I see my keys dangling from the ignition.

I call my dad at work.

"Dad, do you have a spare to the Honda (yes, I drive an Accord!)?"
"Oh yeah, I did use it last week to get my keys out of the car...dangit!" (Where did I put that spare???)

So I call my mom up who is taking my great-grandma to the doctor and she tells me where she put the spare (because she found it laying around the house). I call my sister at home and ask her to look for it, but she can't find it.

Because I'm not sure what to do, I walk over to the Christian book store and make some more calls (on a phone which is running out of battery). My lovely, fellow co-worker asks me if I can work for her because she needs to go home. I tell her that I only have 2-hour parking and that I've already been in it for 2 1/2 hours and my keys are locked in it. She understands and I go back out to my car when I run into the ticket lady (the woman who goes around giving parking tickets to everyone) and she is super friendly and tells me that there is a number you can call that will provide free car emergency help. I call and they are "on their way." My mom finally calls me back and she wants to come to where I am to wait with me (she was just down the street). We wait and wait and wait and then my mom says I should call, so, what did I do? I call the free help place and their ETA is about 30 minutes. Mom says that she just take me home and we'll search the house for the key and come back.

15 minutes later, we're back at my car (with my spare key) and my mom drops my great-grandma and I off (because I'm heading over to Ana's house to play guitar together and my g-g lives near her). We get in and then...

The car doesn't start.

Yep, I left the lights on.

"Idiot!"

"Not you, Grammy."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I ended up laughing.

I call my uncle, Pastor Dale (Stephen's dad), because he is usually downtown and would most likely have jumper cables. Well, he is 20 minutes away. However, he is the sweetest guy and is on his way.

Side note: I asked several guys if they had jumper cables and none did. Can you believe it? I think every guy should carry jumper cables. They're on my Christmas list.

Back to the story: Grammy and I made the most of our time stuck in the car together by me bringing out my baby (Talyor) and hitting a few notes.

My uncle comes and starts my engine and I remember that I'm almost out of gas. We go to the closest station and it's shut down for technical problems. We got to a gas station that actually had gas before I ran out of mine.

Needless to say, I got Grammy home safely, but never made it to Ana's.

One of my problems is that I rush around without thinking. I'm going, going, gone. I need to slow down and chill out. My day went totally different than I had planned.

This is just one example of how I may think I know how my day will go, but God is really the only one who does (because He planned it!).

James 4:13-15 "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'"

We make our plans, but God directs our steps and paths to fulfill His plans.

As I dropped Grammy off, she said to me, "Julianne, I am always praying for you, however, I'll add a few more things in those prayers."

16 comments:

Charlie Wallace said...

God is good...all the time.

Daniel Mann said...

I thought I had key problems!!!
Your day sounds like any and all my days, just one of my typical days. WELCOME TO MY WORLD!!! ;)

By the way I got jumper cables, in my car, look at the car I drive, I need'em.

stephen said...

You can get me jumper cables for christmas, juli.

YOU had a stressful day? I got a ticket for 420 freakin dollars! maybe you can give me money instead.

stephen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

sometimes it seems God just needs to slow us down and hopefully touch us in some way or teach us something.

I was either dumb or lazy, but after using my spare to unlock my car one time, I didn't feel like going back inside, so I drove to the store and forgot about the spare until the next time I needed it several months later...and for some reason I got a strange feeling that it was in my car....and so it was. :)

Mark Nenadov said...

Wow! That sounds like a horrible day.

But the first comment made here is right: "God is good...all the time"

Micah said...

I learned a long time ago to always keep a spare key in my wallet and it's come in handy many times (but you probably didn't need to hear that).

Mark 1:17 said...

Hello,
I think Jason is right, "Count it all Joy", you got to spend time with your "grammy" playin' a Taylor!!!!

Ahhh...time with family around the ol' guitar!

Dave

Frank Martens said...

A Taylor?!?! Man, talk about living it good! :)

That's ok, I'm content with my Martin.

Daniel said...

Hey Julianne,

This is probably not the correct area to comment on this, but I would like to take issue with your poll. Good Arminians should vote with the second option. Both sides agree that God decides or elects who is saved. The disagreement is whether this election is unconditional or conditional. You really should reword it.

Thanks,
Daniel

Brian Sporer said...

Amazing that you and Stefunk both had car troubles that day. His may have been a little worse though.

Daniel Mann said...

Yes, every guy should have jumper cables in their car, to help damsels in distress.

Also great way to evangelize someone who would be stuck, they would be force to listen to ya until your done.

Doug E. said...

great blog. I'm looking forward to more.

Keep it up,

Doug

stephen said...

Yes......God is good all the time....even when you get large tickets. And even when you drop your bank statement at the mall. Yes, this past day or so did not bode well for me.

Thats too bad you have too censor your comments. Whoever is leaving those is being an idiot.

Julianne said...

Yes, God is good ALL the time! Abby, my roommate in Brazil, and I would always say that, even when something "bad" would happen.

Thanks for the sympathy, advice, and encouragment, guys!

And, sorry Stephen for all the trouble you've had. Maybe you've been lacking in your "quiet times?" (See Jason's post @ ragamuffinreflections.blogspot.com)

Anonymous said...

lol! I think it was probably the day after you did that (Thurs) that I locked my keys in my car at the Walmart there in California. I waited forever, had a walmart guy come out and try to open it, talked to my parents on the phone (who mentioned a spare key; I didn't think I had one, but I knew of a place it might be if I did), and finally called my roommate and had him check for the spare key. He found it, but was working on a take home test; hence, I had to give him around half an hour. After standing outside a long time, I finally made my way to the video games in Toys 'R Us. Great fun. My roommate eventually came, and then we went and ate at In-n-Out (Julianne, if you do come to TMC and you don't know what In-n-Out is, you will quickly learn). Hence, we had at least one of the same problems on almost the same day. I'm glad to see you made it out ok. ; ) Good times!